Could A Foreign Government Bribe Feds To Regulate Conservative Media?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said this month that his company sold over $100,000 in social media advertising to a Russian government-controlled front group during the 2016 election cycle. While that amount is a relative pittance and critics are saying the ads were poorly produced — where is Bill Maher when you really need him? — the discovery has raised alarms.

It’s ironic, of course, that America’s media elites are suddenly alarmed, considering that the CIA and intelligence agencies abroad have engaged in similar activity for decades. But putting that aside, what if the bigger danger comes not from amateurish foreign advertisers, but from foreign governments seeking to influence the American regulatory agencies meant to act as the citizens’ watchdogs?

Could a foreign government — such as Russia, Ukraine, or Mexico, for example — bribe or “incentivize” a federal agency such as the Federal Election Commission to regulate (or “rein in”) conservative news websites?

The truth could be stranger than fiction if you examine the habits of the federal commissioners who run our regulatory agencies.

Over the summer, Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub expressed fear that foreign money could influence American elections and suggested that the feds examine the money behind political websites such as the Drudge Report. (Fat chance Democrats would consider doing the same to the Huffington Post or another one of their favored news outlets.)

The concern is ironic considering Weintraub has been the top beneficiary of foreign money at the FEC. She would never allow that to influence her judgment or regulatory agenda, right?

Thanks to information gathered with open records laws, new reports have indicated that Weintraub has taken more than 30 trips abroad since she joined the agency in 2003. Those trips have been financed, in whole or in part, by foreign groups connected to governments around the world. Those countries have included the Philippines, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, to name a few.

The purpose of the trips sounds benign, usually helping to monitor an election or speak at a conference. But those visits also provide foreign leaders a chance to wine and dine commissioners and the staff accompanying them. During a trip to Albania, a trip itinerary suggests Weintraub stopped for dinner with leaders of the country’s Socialist Party and something called the “Socialist Movement for Integration.” Did they use the dinner to exchange best practices for honest elections — or for cracking down on free speech? Americans will never know.

Of course, not all foreign travel involves a quid pro quo, as we know from the Clinton experience. Accepting a half-million dollars in fees for one speech in a foreign capital never corrupted Bill or Hillary, right?full story

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Rhett October is a man independent of the nanny state. He sees what is obvious but to many others is a successful deception. He has a crush on Tomi Lahren. Follow him on Twitter @RhettOctober
"After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." -Morpheus

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